totally confused - can anyone help?

[stevecat]

hello, I am a newbie,

I wonder if anyone can help?

I am trying to find out if my wife can claim the enhanced disability premium.

my wife receives - DLA HR for both components (indefinite award - though I know rules are changing)
& Incapacity benefit ( again I know will migrate to ESA)

i have recently stopped working to care for my wife , the only benefit I receive is Carers Allowance.

we do not claim any other benefits at present as they seem to be means tested and we do have savings above the threshold, so we are muddling through on just DLA/IB/CA. ( no other income)

is the enhanced disability premium also means tested? or are there any other benefits that we could claim.

any help would be most appreciated

many thanks

[treborc]

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/s...cable-amounts/

Gies you all the rules.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Disabled...port/DG_068683

bit more detail

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/f31.htm

shows ESA changes.

hope this helps.

[stevecat]

thank you for the those links treborc,

wow I am learning all sorts of phrases that I have never heard before like discriptors and overlapping!

it would seem from what I have read that my wife would be entitled to the enhanced disability premium, she has been on
high rate DLA from 2007 and middle rate before that, it was only by chance that I noticed these premiums this morning,
nobody had ever mentioned the too us before!

we have managed by getting by up until now, but although we have savings they are taking a hit, so any extra help would
make a huge difference to us.

I couldn't see if there was a form that I could download online? do I have to go somewhere (job centre?) to request a form?

sorry to be so dense but trying to get my head round everything is getting me even more confused.

thanks so much your help

[andypandy]

I always thought that you were just automatically given the enhanced disability premium ? Perhaps I am entitled, but I am going to keep a low profile and hope they forget all about me ;-)

Hope you sort it out Have you thought about ringing the DWP direct http://www.dwp.gov.uk/contact-us/contact-a-z/ When I have rung them in the past they have been very helpful

[stevecat]

I know Andy, I am worried about contacting them direct, bad enough receiving the dreaded brown envelope through the letter box.

my next question is if my wife applied, would it flag her up in the system to bring on a review? if so I wouldn't want to chance it.

this benefit system is so complicated, yet the media make it seem that all you have to do is ask and you get everything handed on plate and gift-wrapped!

the reality it appears is that some people don't claim everything that they are entitled to either through not
knowing, or being too worried to actually make the claim, never mind that it is on top of poor health!

if I could see the claim form it may give me some idea as the whether we should claim, but I cannot find a form online.

[treborc]

With everythibng I get IB which is £138 a week with all the add on, I get child credits worth £95 plus DLA. all at high rate.

so we are not doing to bad at the moment. But all this will change as the ESA comes in.

[stevecat]

I have just checked we get

Wife IB £99.85 per week
Wife DLA £125.00 per week

Me CA £ 55.55 per week

we managed while I was working, but now I am full time caring I cannot claim JSA as I am f/t carer, cannot get ESA as not ill (yet touch wood) and any other benefits seem to be means-tested. the savings that we have are all we have to fall-back on.

it just seems that for me £55.55 doesn't seem very much to live on!

[andypandy]

What I find unfair Steve is the fact that you and your wife have worked hard to get some savings behind you and then you are penalised for it !

Its like the new rule for being able to propel yourself 50m in your manual chair. I am able to do this, but wonder what was the point in me fighting both physically and mentally to be able to do it just to get penalised for it ? I was bed-ridden for 2 years, perhaps I should have stayed there ?

I know what you mean about people not claiming, you are told nothing are you ? its such a learning curve when you become newly disabled and not knowing the system at all

How long has your wife been on DLA if you dont mind me asking ?

[stevecat]

very true Andy, it is a minefield!

my wife was on middle rate DLA from 2005 and then high rate from 2007.

we both had good jobs at one time, but life has a way of changing your plans.

we just about managed when my wife had to stop working, but it is very difficult now I have had to stop to look after her.

I am grateful that we have some savings behind us as I know some people don't even have that, but we were saving for retirement as my wife never had a private pension. It looks as though we are going to have to keep chipping away at them to get by.

so in our case, working and saving has gone against us! even though the savings are nothing to really show for a lifetime, was just what we could afford to put away over the years.

we are in our late 40's so retirement age and state pensions are still a way off for us, and of course being that I have had to stop work the small private pension that I had paid into for 28 years will also be drastically reduced.

I guess I am panicking, however I do appreciate that many folk are in worse situations.

[beau]

My advice is to see a Welfare Rights Adviser who will be able to tell you exactly what you are entitled to.
DLA is no accountable for any means tested benefit.